Chicken Noodle Soup for the soul and the calories

That is so true.  Organic pea soup with mint and some cream of broccoli soup have been excellent as well.  Thanks for all the chefs who stopped by as Maeve recuperated from tonsillectomy.  I do believe her pain, discomfort, and misery were well beyond any post operative discomfort that I had.  She has had the opportunity to read on line that women who go through childbirth say the pain scale is the same – just not as long to have a baby.  Maeve does babysit – she she realizes when childbirth pain ends new issues arise that last longer than postoperative pain.  Downtime always give one time to wonder – so she is wondering if she would have potential in real estate.  I am sure she will reach out to Laurie Elsass and my frieds Deb Goldach and Brad Weatherford to get some insights and a path forward on this.

In the mean time, I had chemo yesterday and Owen came with me.  That is such a comfort to have one of my peeps with me.  Of course, another lively patient, brought 4 of her friends and it was like a kitchen klatch.  They didn’t mind us joining in occasionally – so a bit of a party at chemo!  Got to embrace the good stuff.    I spoke with the pharmacist and we went over alot of options to help with five days of unremitting nausea.  We added another long lasting medicine yesterday and discussed a few others.  All the medications in the phenothiazine category – I have had great practice with in three pregnancies that had nine months of hyperemesis.  So even some of the new more powerful antiemetics are out.  We discussed using the erythromycin family of medications and azithromycin (known as zpack) is from along ago study that helps with gastric emptying.  This seems to add to the nausea in that gemzar slows everything down  – so we are going to try this.  Also more ativan and that seems to be helping today.  No appetite but nausea at a mimimum.  Physical movement except between chair and kitchen is about the max of efffort that prevents nauses escalating for me.

Owen left to go to work before chemo ended – it was a long session yesterday – and Lisa Williamson brought me home – remember, it takes a village. She stayed and heated up soup for Maeve and helped her settle down more.

OK – post tonsillectomy recommendations:  Liquid Tylenol with codeine if possible – easier to swallow – may need up to 1 liter but can be dispense in 2 500ml bottles, magic mouth wash (lidocaine and maalox mixture) In addition studies show https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25902839 talernating ibuprofen is OK (studies done post opiod epidemic) with the Tylenol with codeine.  If you want to go to straight Tylenol that is OK  to dose Tylenol and then Motrin every 4 hours for pain relieve.  Lots of swelling – so if no complications and pain is severe – steroids as a medrol dose pack can help.  Finally, fever and bleeding require emergent calls to your doctor and possibly the hospital.  Expect 8-10 days of serious discomfort.  And get ready with ice packs!  Drink or eat whatever tastes good – tend to be soft and lukewarm to room temperature – although I did see a HaganDas bar eaten two days ago.  Discuss these items with your doctor before surgery.

Now – next episode is up for “I’ve got skin in the game”  Here is the lead in: and don’t forget:  Subscribe, share and rate your experience on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts.  There has been so much great feedback from the community to which these are shared – messages they needed to hear in their life or cancer journey.  Thank you all for making my dream come true,